Floyd family calls for first-degree murder charges against cop after independent autopsy finds asphyxiation killed him

Key passage:

Not only was the knee on George’s neck a cause of his death, but so was the weight of the other two police officers on his back, who not only prevented blood flow into his brain but also air flow into his lungs.”

“Dr. Michael Baden, one of the pathologists who performed the independent autopsy said, ‘Mr. Floyd had no underlying medical problems that caused or contributed to his death.'” Baden also made no mention of fentanyl or meth.

Note that Baden is 85 years old, and is quite a controversial character, having testified for the defense in the OJ and Phil Spector trials, and having produced some disputed results in other high-profile proceedings.

This completely contradicts the final report of the Hennepin County Medical Examiner. The press release of the medical examiner reads: Cause of death: Cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression; Manner of death: Homicide; How injury occurred: Decedent experienced a cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by law enforcement officer(s); Other significant conditions: Arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease; fentanyl intoxication; recent methamphetamine use.

14 thoughts on “Floyd family calls for first-degree murder charges against cop after independent autopsy finds asphyxiation killed him

  1. The officer’s wife has filed for divorce and wants to change her name. The husband must be a real “sweetheart.” That may explain why he kept his knee on the unconscious suspect.

  2. 20 plus years ago, I had just started working at a Manhattan law firm when I saw an email from the attorney whose office was next to mine. She was asking if anyone knew a civil engineer that could testify to something or another. I replied and told her that my cousin was chairman of the Civil Engineering Dept. at Manhattan College (which ironically is located in the Bronx, not Manhattan). She came up to me later in the day and said, “Oh I didn’t mean a REAL engineer. I meant an engineer that would testify to (something or another).” That was my first real life exposure to how really unethical expert witnesses can be. Michael Baden used to be the Chief coroner for NYC or maybe it was just NY County (Manhattan). But he’s been a regular on cable news for many years and also an expert witness for hire. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of him contradicting an official autopsy. I have no expertise forensics or autopsies, but I’ve been left with the impression that Baden will find what his client wants him to find.

    Baden’s autopsy will be admissible in the wrongful death civil suit that is certainly coming. But I can’t see the State of MN trying to introduce an autopsy that contradicts the official autopsy in the murder trial. Even if they did, the official autopsy would still be admitted and would still potentially offer reasonable doubt on the murder count. I believe he is likely to be convicted of at least manslaughter, but a murder conviction is not out of the question. While I am curious as to why he felt the need to keep his knee on the neck of an unconscious handcuffed suspect, I can’t imagine anything he could say that would justify what he did and I think he deserves to be convicted of murder. But he still deserves a fair trial. Given all the civil unrest, that might be a problem because jurors might be (correctly) afraid that an acquittal or even a manslaughter conviction) could lead to renewed violent protests.

  3. Baden was paid thousands by the defense to testify in the OJ trial that “the evidence shows” there were 2 killers. He was quickly discredited & roundly mocked. No integrity; pay him enough, he’ll say anything.

    1. Ditto for the county medical examiner. No credibility.

      Both agree it’s a homicide, however,

      1. I don’t know anything about the county guy. I wouldn’t say that just because some random examiner came to conclusions that angry people with a rioting & looting agenda don’t wish to fully agree with, that would automatically make him unreliable. He’s just some guy doing his job, making his findings – albeit under pressure. Baden, by comparison, is a well-known celeb examiner who has a long history of taking money to say whatever his benefactors tell him to say. The guy got up on the stand & lied for money so that OJ could be free. What more can ya say about him – other than he came to the conclusion Jon-Benet’s 9-year-old bro killed her. I dunno who paid him to say that; maybe he’s incompetent as well as a paid liar. I’d trust a random county coroner any day over Baden.

        1. Forgetting the ad hominem stuff for a minute, this is prima facie homicide. He was alive (with or without underlying conditions, probably with a buzz on), they hauled him out of the squad car and sat on him til he died. If you want to say this wasn’t homicide, you have to believe that if they’d left him alone in the back seat, he would have dropped dead.

          1. Not quite. The officers may have been justified in removing Floyd from the car. I have no idea what reason they gave for doing it, but if for example he was violently thrashing or kicking the seat in front of him while in the squad car they may have been justified in removing him. If so, the question is would he still have died if they hadn’t put pressure on his neck? Or maybe if Chauvin had removed his knee when Floyd stopped resisting would he still have died?

        2. It’s a medical examiner in a county where this dangerous restraint method is not uncommon.

          “ Since the beginning of 2015, officers from the Minneapolis Police Department have rendered people unconscious with neck restraints 44 times, according to an NBC News analysis of police records. Several police experts said that number appears to be unusually high.”

          1. The number I saw was 237 since 2015. Is your point more that they should know how to do this without killing a guy, or that the coroner will tend to bring a result supporting use of the restraint?

          2. 237 incidents but 44 leading to unconsciousness. The coroner will be on notice to provide results that support using this method of restraint. The Minneapolis police lost a $3 million lawsuit involving this method of restraint some years back.

  4. Demanding 1st degree murder charges might well be a mistake. Over charging the crime, especially with such divergent ME reports, could well lead to an acquittal. That serves no one but a bad cop.

  5. The problem with medical experts/examiners is they tend to go with where their interests lie…But clearly there’s a serious dispute over the cause of death. Accurate alcohol detection in a corpse requires an autopsy within about 48 hrs Of death. Likely the independent autopsy was done well after.

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